[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/bbcode.php on line 112: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/bbcode.php on line 112: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/bbcode.php on line 112: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback insteadView topic - Did Simba and Nala become mates in CanYouFeelTheLoveTonight? — My Lion King Forum

I'm not entirely sure how to interpret what happens during Can You Feel the Love Tonight, because at first glance it's obviously a song about Simba and Nala's heartfelt reunion, but after it's over it's pretty vague if their relationship actually changed. In my head it could either be: they reunited during the song and sometime after Scar was defeated they did become mates, or, they got together during the song and even conceived Kiara too.

I'm more inclined for the latter after watching the alternate version of Simba and Nala's reunion that wasn't used in the movie, especially by Timon's line "Loving and leaving, very smooth kid very smooth" and Simba's obvious "I love you". Technically it's not canon but it was scripted by the movie writers.

Your thoughts? How did you guys interpret this scene?

Last edited by AnonLion on June 22nd, 2017, 9:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I personally interpret the scene as no more than passionate kissing. Yeah, the filmmakers described "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" as something on the lines as the "steamiest love scene in a Disney film" on the audio commentary so I see the implication that's there.

EDIT: SimbasGuard brought up a good point. Lionesses are usually pregnant on an average of four months, and the restoration of the Pride Lands had to have taken long than that. So, it's extremely likely Simba and Nala mated shortly after Simba became king.

Last edited by TheLionPrince on June 23rd, 2017, 6:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Now that Elton John brought up The Director's Commentary. Also because that on said commentary The Directors describe Nala's (I think it is now safe to call famous) Look as a come hither look makes it rather impossible for me to defend my theory that Can You Feel The Love Tonight was just a case of Simba And Nala realizing that their friendship had developed into love. Because I had never taken it any other way before. I just find it much more romantic to believe that Simba And Nala's relationship as mates began with the words "Will you be my" rather than simply "May I".

As for when Kiara was conceived, that had to be some time after Simba had become King. When Kiara was presented to The Kingdom as (basically) a newborn,The Pride Lands had recovered from the condition they were in when Simba took The Throne. The time it took for them to heal would have been much longer than the term of a lioness pregnancy.

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Very interesting points. In that case considering the time lapse of a lioness' pregnancy and the commentary we could try to put it together like this:

During "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" Simba and Nala realize their relationship developed from friendship to love and mate, however they don't conceive Kiara. Some time after Scar is defeated and Nala is officially queen Kiara is conceived and is born right on time when the Pridelands are finally restored.

Yeah, I agree it's far more likely for Kiara to have been conceived later. The only way I could buy CYFtLT being the moment when that happened is if magic helped restore the land, which to be fair, is in line with the canon of the TLK verse as a whole. But I like to think things happened more naturally.

While I'd personally prefer for a bit more time to have passed between the implied mating scene and Kiara's/Kion's presentation (especially with the Outsider-related stuff) I still don't see a four-month timespan as impossible for the land to have been naturally restored if you just assume that the Pride Lands was simply nearing the end of a regular drought season at the time Simba returned, with Scar's real impact being the forcing of the herds to leave the territory via his overhunting/hyena policy.

(Plus, for what it's worth, the "the talk" reference from Return of the Roar kinda solidified it for me.)

Also, I've never seen that alternate scene before; it was very nicely executed in my honest opinion. Made Simba's decision to leave seem less impulsive, too. Plus, you have all four traveling together, so it makes a lot more sense as to how everyone actually arrived back in the Pride Lands at the same time...

Last edited by SimbasGuard on July 28th, 2018, 11:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Last edited by SimbasGuard on July 28th, 2018, 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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